Quick Start Guide
Get up and running with FileRelay in under 5 minutes. Connect SAP — ArchiveLink, CMIS, or OData — to your first destination.
Get a document flowing from SAP to a destination in under 5 minutes. The first four steps are the same regardless of which SAP source protocol you use — only the SAP-side configuration in step 5 differs.
Step 1: Open your FileRelay workspace
FileRelay is on-prem only — there's no public multi-tenant sign-up. Your deployment runs in one of three operating models:
- Self-hosted — you run FileRelay in your own cluster (OpenShift, EKS, AKS, GKE, bare metal) via Helm chart or Docker Compose. Air-gapped supported.
- Managed on-prem — we deploy and operate FileRelay inside your cloud account / VPC. You keep data residency; we handle ops with 24/7 monitoring and SLA.
- FileRelay-hosted — we host and operate FileRelay on dedicated single-tenant infrastructure built for you. Same product as self-hosted, no infra/ops team needed.
For all three models, sign in to the FileRelay UI hosted under your organisation's domain (the URL your admin or the FileRelay team gave you once the deployment was provisioned — e.g. filerelay.acme.internal). You'll create your first workspace inside your deployment.
If you don't have a deployment yet, see How FileRelay works for the architecture overview and contact us to start a free pilot in the operating model that fits you best.
The rest of this guide works the same regardless of which model you're on. Whenever you see "the dashboard" below, it means the FileRelay UI you signed in to in this step.
Step 2: Add a source (repository)
Go to Sources and add a source. Pick the protocol that matches your SAP edition:
| SAP edition | Protocol |
|---|---|
| ECC 6.0 / S/4HANA on-premise | ArchiveLink |
| S/4HANA Cloud Private (RISE) | ArchiveLink, CMIS, or OData |
| S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition | CMIS or OData (ArchiveLink is not available) |
Not sure which to pick? Use the protocol comparison decision matrix.
For ArchiveLink, the Repository ID (e.g. Z1) must match the Content Repository ID you'll configure in SAP transaction OAC0.
Step 3: Add a destination
Go to Destinations and add a connector — for example, an S3 bucket, a SharePoint document library, or a Google Drive folder. Enter your credentials and test the connection.
See the connectors overview for the full list of 16+ destinations.
Tip: You can configure unlimited destinations on every operating model. Use fan-out routing to deliver the same SAP document to several destinations in parallel.
Step 4: Create a connection
Go to Connections and wire your source to your destination. This creates a pipeline — every document that arrives at that source will be forwarded to the connected destinations.
You can wire a single source to multiple destinations (fan-out): the same SAP document can land in S3, SharePoint, and an email inbox in parallel. See fan-out routing.
Step 5: Configure SAP
The SAP-side configuration depends on the protocol you chose in step 2.
Option A — ArchiveLink (ECC / S/4HANA on-prem / S/4HANA Cloud Private)
In SAP transaction OAC0, configure a new Content Repository:
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Content Rep. | Z1 (must match your FileRelay source) |
| Description | FileRelay |
| HTTP Server | yourcompany.filerelay.io |
| Port | 443 |
| HTTP Script | ContentServer |
| Protocol | HTTPS |
Full step-by-step including certificate exchange and TLS trust store: see the OAC0 guide and Certificate management.
Option B — CMIS (S/4HANA Cloud, RISE)
In SAP, create a Communication Arrangement using template SAP_COM_0552 (Document Management Integration). Take the generated OAuth client ID, secret, and CMIS endpoint and paste them into the FileRelay CMIS source. Full guide: CMIS setup.
Option C — OData (S/4HANA Cloud, RISE)
In SAP, create a Communication Arrangement using a released attachment template such as SAP_COM_0204 (or one of the business-object-specific templates) and copy the generated client credentials and service URL into the FileRelay OData source. Full guide: OData setup.
That's it
SAP will now route documents to FileRelay, which forwards them to your configured destinations. Every document is recorded in the workspace audit log with timestamp, size, and delivery status.
What's next?
- Add more destinations — route to multiple systems simultaneously
- Set up fan-out routing — send the same document to S3 AND email AND Slack
- Invite your team — collaborate with role-based access
- Explore the API — integrate programmatically
- How FileRelay works — architecture, protocols, and the three operating models